You are here

Home » National Parks Traveler

National Parks the World Over are Preparing for Climate Change

Climate change is global. No one country or hemisphere has a monopoly on calmer or stormier weather, on drier or wetter climates, on higher or lower lake, sea, and river levels. While here in the United States the National Park Service is trying to confront the change, on the far side of the world another country is doing what it can to protect its parks from climate change.

The Ex-Soldier Who Bought a Battlefield

Throughout history, military leaders have inevitably been linked to the scenes of their battles. General Douglas MacArthur is remembered for his "I shall return" pronouncement, but one famous American military figure went even further. He returned as a civilian and purchased a battlefield where he had fought—and lost—an engagement sixteen years earlier.

Keeping History Honest When It Comes to Sight Lines In Civil War-era National Parks Is Not Without Controversy

When General Robert E. Lee's troops were battling the Union forces at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13, 1862, his cannons atop Lee's Hill and nearby Howison Hill had clear lines of fire. Today they'd be lucky to hit the proverbial broad side of a barn.

That Ringing Heard by Backcountry Visitors in Glacier National Park Wasn't in Their Ears

Julie Andrews made some Austrian mountains come alive with the sound of music, but for seventeen years visitors to the backcountry in Glacier National Park played a different kind of tune. That ringing sound heard in some pretty remote sections of the park wasn't exactly melodious, since it was limited to a single note from a large bell, but it was apparently dramatic.

Submerged: Adventures of America's Most Elite Underwater Archeology Team

I always liked the acronym, SCRU, the best, I thought, in the federal government. It stood for the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, a collection of National Park Service world-class divers stationed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who also happened to be professional archaeologists, anthropologists, and illustrators.